You might not think a bowling ball could be recycled into anything other than an implement of destruction. But Los Angeles-based artist Eddy Sykes turns them into timeless pieces of art suitable for sitting on the shelves of any library.

The bowling balls Eddy prefers to work with have typically been abandoned for over 30 years, but were kept in pristine condition by their previous owners. So to prolong their existence, Eddy carves each ball—by hand—into faux literary masterpieces that will never rot away, and never be opened.

And as a nod to their former lives, he usually leaves the ball's fingerholes visible on the book's spine, and the bottom of each fake book following the ball's original curves. [Eddy Sykes via Inhabitat]